Short hops and hard knocks with Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne.

Have some class, please

Now that I’ve had a couple of days off, I’ve had some time to look at some of the recent comments on the blog and, at least in one particular case, it’s not pretty. You know who you are. Stop it.

I have no patience on this blog for nasty, below the belt, mindless blabber. I love healthy discourse. But enough with the vile language and pure stupidity.

Your screen name will either permanently deleted from the system or I will delete each comment manually if I have to. I think, overall, the behavior in the comments section has been far better in 2007 than in 2006. But still, let’s make sure there’s no more nonsense.

Thank you,

Ian.

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149 Comments

Jeff,
This is in response to your comment about “JD Drew was brought in to be a run producer” on the last blog. OBP is the stat mostly directly correlated with runs scored (Rob Neyer, Bill James, Baseball Prospectus). So in a sense what he is doing is helping to “create” runs if he gets on base 39% of the time. But in order to do this he must be on base so the power hitters can drive him in. And one other plus of having him and Youk batting ahead of them is that there is less of a chance that they will walk Ortiz, because there will be nowhere to put him. Just imagine that proposed lineup that I have put up many times in the past:

1) Pedroia

2) Drew

3) Youkilis

4) Ortiz

5) Ramirez

How many runners will be on base by the time Ortiz and Manny come up. Dropping Manny down in the order in the past may not have been the most logical thing to do, but he is 35 now. He isn’t the same Manny as in the past as we are all seeing. So he will lose some at bats, but will be given more chances to drive in runs.

Joseph, I fully understand the concept of on-base percentage and its value to a team. However, like I said, Drew was brought in to hit home runs and knock people in. Guys like Lugo and Crisp are supposed to be tablesetters, not Drew. He was signed to give the Sox an added bat along with Ortiz and Ramirez, not to get on base with a walk and a single here and there. Regulars here and on Sox and Pinstripes know that I supported Epstein’s decision to sign Drew, and I think he will contribute next season, but as for this season, he seems lost at the plate. Drew is supposed to be one of the guys driving in runs, not the guy setting the table for others to drive him in. I will feel much better when the Sox acquire someone like Reggie Sanders and give him some of Drew at-bats. The Sox will be better off.

I say let’s try it, were not going to do any worse than we are right now and I think that every guy benefits forn the guy hitting behind him.
I’m not so convinced with Pedroia batting leadoff but you never know and it might just work. Besides this looks a lot like the lineup when Pedroia was batting 9th.

Joseph, no doubt you guys “miss” schilling, I was simply saying he is no longer an ace that you are missing. And please, you missed Beckett for what 3 starts and Schilling now for an extended period of time just like the last two years? No sympathy. You guys have been very fortunate comparatively with health.

JD Drew has really become quite an issue.I almost wished he didn’t opt out of his Dodgers contract.He would be better off their with his buddy Nomah.And Wily Mo is another nuckus who needs to go for sure.For guy I try to ship off is Wily Mo.

I don’t like the idea of Drew leading off but him hitting 2nd I could go with that. A lefty for some reason in the 2 hole has always appealed to me and Drew does work the count. Jeff you are 100% correct when you say Drew was brought in to drive runs in, remember the Red Sox namely Theo said they needed to get production from the 5 spot in the order and there #5 hitters in 2006 ranked near the bottom in most if not all offensive categories.

Tavarez must show up tonight and get his down in the strike zone, he gets hurt bad when everything is up. His tank could be on empty, logging more innings than normal for Tavarez. I never thought I would use normal and Tavarez in the same sentence.

I do believe that either Lowell or Crisp will be dealt around the trading deadline. Sanders would be a nice little addition to the Sox, I want Jeff to make that trade. That is the perfect guy or how about Jeff Conine? He always seems to come up with some big hits for a contender down the stretch. Either one I can go for.

I can’t understand what happend to drew, I wasn’t and still aren’t happy with that signing, but he had a very good april, what happend after that. At the beginig of the season everybody was slumping and this guy was hitting great. Infact I remember one game I think it was against the yankees on FOX that Pedroia introduced the lineup. When he got to drew he introduced him as “J D I will hit anything Drew”, or somehting arround those lines, what ever happen to that guy who was proving me wrong.
Even Peter Gamons said he was going to produce as long as he is healthy, so i wonder, is he?

Im just not happy with him ,his playing, and his lack of emotion. I’m not ssure this guy enjoys playing baseball. it’s frustrating.

Who have thought we’d be actually wanting to trade for the nomad Reggie Sanders? If Francona wants to get any value for Wily Mo, he better no play him at all until the Trading Deadline. Every at bat shows another hole in his game.
Man I hope the good Tavarez shows up tonight.

Drew did get off to a hot start. In the first 3 weeks he was there best hitter. He was a part of that 4 straight home run barrage, Ramirez, Drew, Lowell and Varitek. That to me seems like 10 years ago. Chase Wright hasn’t been in the big leagues since. I was NEVER a big fan of the signing, I was hoping I was dead wrong of course, I want to see A Red Sox player do well not fail. I have seen enough of failed signings, this one ranks up there with Darwin, Young and Jack Clark. Those 3 were just AWFUL and so far Drew is right with them.

As A Toronto Blue Jays fan, I’d ask you to help us keep Bosox off our site with his trash and rhetoric. If he continues, then you can expect a number of posters there to clog up this site, with continual one after the other postings as he does ours.

I am a jays fan and I hope you are not talking about us,We have no desire to trash your site as you know we play 19 games against Boston every year and some of us read all the postings on your blog.

The people of Boston seem to know their baseball we learn a lot about whats going on,I dont think a little rivalry hurts anyone having said that bosoxbrian comes on our site and trashes it all the time,now I know it’s not your fault or your posters but that is why we trash him and only him on your site but no more for me.

I dont think he is a Boston fan or a fan of any other team but he is an instigator that I am sure of.

Now for you sox fans I hate the Yankees so please don’t let them catch you.

I understand u guys doing what so ever in response to someone trashing u on ur site. But we don’t want this develop this into a situation as we had a very unpleasant situation last season bcoz of an obnoxious yankee fan. I hope we guys can settle this in a better way than trashing each other.

By the way u guys r always welcome here u know as long as we can have a decent baseball discussion be it RedSox or be it Bluejays(we play each other 19 times every season after all so we can’t avoid each other)

Give Tavarez a lead and he promptly gives it right back up. I admit he pitched better than anyone expected in May and June but the league has figured him out now. He needs to be out of the starting rotation ASAP

Jeff, Drew may have been brought in to hit HR’S… when will that start to happen do you think??? You may think that I’m still stuck in Trot mode, but I think that either Hinske or Wily Mo would not be a bad placement out there. Given enough time in right, and consistant day to day play, either would do as good or possibly even better than JD Drew.
OK, we’ve lost the lead again, LET’S GO REDSOX, LET’S GO!!!!!

Do I need to bring out my KC Royals voodoo dolls and the cute little stick pins???

Ellen, I think Drew will eventually produce, but I think it might not be until next season. The Sox are stuck with him for the long term. This is why I think it is imperative to get rid of Wily Mo Pena and find a fourth outfielder who can contribute from right field since Drew does not deserve to be in there every day right now.

Tavarez looked awful again tonight. Jon Lester had a decent start tonight for Pawtucket. I say move Tavarez to the bullpen, release or trade Pineiro and give Lester the start on Monday (Tavarez’s next scheduled start) Tavarez is often effective the first time through the lineup. Last season aisde, he has had a decent career as a reliever. I think he will bolster the bullpen. He is better in small doses. Lester has not been lights out, but he deserves at least a shot, and he could provide a much-needed jolt for the Sox.

I wrote too soon. I thought Lester was done after seven innings, in which he allowed three runs and seven hits and threw about 95 pitches. But he is back out for the eighth and his line is now 4 runs and 10 hits. Still, he is throwing deeper into games, and all the Sox need from him is six solid innings since the bullpen is so effective. Six from Lester would beat four ineffective innings from Tavarez. Of course, Devern Hansack is another option. Next to Gabbard, he is throwing the best among Sox prospects at Triple-A. I’m not including Clay Buchholz yet since he has only made one Triple-A start.

I will volunteer and give Pinero a ride to the airport. He is this year’s Rudy Seanz, no difference. He is dead weight on this team and has shown nothing.

Only thing we can hope for is Drew to have a bad shoulder in year 3 of his contract so the Sox can void it. Let’s face it 4.5 years of him, OUCH!!!! Tavarez I believe is on empty and Lester would a welcomed addition to this lackluster team.

Mike Timlin looks good again, I thought he was done. I am glad that I am wrong on that one. Here I am saying lackluster team and they have the most wins in baseball. Imagine if I was a K.C. fan, I would be on a suicide watch!!!

That is a great sign that Lester is going deep. Obviously the Sox want him to build up stamina, imagine a front office with a plan. It is great too see. I am not a big fan of Hansack, he is missing something there. He got blitzed in that start vs Atlanta and the Braves lineup is o.k.

Sox once again strand more and more and more base runners. The Yankees have taken the lead. They are rolling and they are starting to catch up more. If we lose tonight, it’ll be 7 games, right? This does not look good for the sox. Yesterday, wake had a horrible pitching performance, now, tavarez/timlin have giving us a decent performance, but, surprisingly, there has been no success with runners in scoring position. We cant beat the good teams like Seattle and Detroit. Now, we can’t even beat the Royals?!? I can’t stand this inconsistency. So far, this has been a ridiculous game, and it will be very, very pitiful if we lost, again.

I don’t feel good about this game. Not at all. This team is downright pathetic when runners are in scoring position, and when it is trailing by one run.

I was originally correct about Lester. He did go seven, allowing three runs and seven hits. He threw 94 pitches. I think it is worth giving him the start on Monday. Not only will it give Lester a lift, it will also inject some emotion into the lackluster team.

Brian, I would rather have Reggie Sanders as a right-handed bat off the bench. Hinske is a better option than Conine as a backup first baseman, in my opinion, and Hinske can also play third, left and right.

By the way, Vince, I think Pedroia certainly deserves strong consideration for ROY is he continues the way he is playing. The fact he rebounded after a slow start shows just how good of a player he is. He is also strong with the glove.

Oh I don’t think he shouldn’t get consideration, but if things continue as they are, I think he gets no closer than third on his own team.

haha touche, Bosox.

I disagree about the japan professional thing though. Too many have failed to say they are on even playing field and are thus “professional” coming to America. Matsui should have gotten it in ’03 and Oki or Dice K deserve it now.

I do agree about Matsui being the R.O.Y. back in 03 but the writers have the final say. I would go with Okijima, Dice-K and Pedroia but I will not be surprised that Pedroia gets it. Berrora got it in 03 and he is now selling hotdogs in K.C. I believe. Jody Gerut of the tribe also was in the running and where is he? One year they’re talked about and a short time later, long gone. Remember Bob Hamelin? K.C. R.O.Y. back around 7 to 10 years ago.

Hunter Pence might be a lock in the NL. I’m trying to think of worthy AL rookies. How is Miller doing in Detroit? Tampa has about 14 guys that could be in the running but I don’t think any of them have the numbers Oki or Matsuzaka do, particularly Oki who is my top choice right now.

I like that Braun for the Brewers in the NL, 14 homers and 38 rbis in about half the season b/c he didn’t get called up till mid May or so. My sentimental pick is Pence who used to be a Tri-City Valley Cat and they play about 5 minutes from where I live.

Miller is pitching tonight against Santana and Miller has the edge 2-0 in the 5th.

Lester I believe he is not and Hughes who knows what is going on there. Early August return for Hughes is the word out there. Tampa would have Young and Iwamurra. I forgot all about Young, how I don’t know. Good rookies in the A.L.

Rivera did not pitch yesterday, I’m not sure why Kay said he did. We saw 7 from Pettitte, one from farnsy, one from Vizcaino and one from Bruney.

But yes, 4 times in 5 days, and the answer: Torre is dumb

He takes Bruney out because he walked the first batter even though he got the next guy out and because Stairs, a lefty was pinch hitting. So he goes to Villone who is worse and has control problems, and he promptly walks stairs. Then, because he used Myers for one out, Proctor for an inning and as I mentioned Bruney for one out and Villone failed, he went to Mo. Vizcaino and Farnsy are both not eligible tonight and Joe would never use Edwar, he has too much promise and is too young to do something silly like develop him here and there.

Anyone at least a little bit worried now? We lost 2 our of 3 to the Royals. Now we’re gonna face the white sox. Now that we know its hard to even beat the easier teams, i fear that the white sox are gonna bring some truble as well. I’m kind of worried now.

Also, YES seems very interested in everything Red Sox putting up the final score at the exact moment it goes final. 3 things wrong with that: It is mid July, there are 70 or so games left in the season and they are still 7.5 (at the moment) back. Seems a little much to me. I mean showing highlights on the postgame or between innings I can live with but every time something happened in that game YES flashed it up there. They seem a bit pre-occupied with a team they have not seen for weeks and will not see for weeks. Am I out of my mind in this assumption?

Your right about Rivera not pitching yesterday. I did not hear Kay say that, I assumed we did as well. He must have warmed a few times though because of how close the game was. I think the Jays left something like 11 men on tonite. Nice to see them mail it in verus the Yanks but play the Sox tough. ;)

Tonight, we were down and then got the lead, then The former senior of the EZ Bros. promptly gave it away. I know how badly I criticized him last season; I thought he was turning things around; guess not.

Who goes tomorrow night??, Beckett?? I predict no sweep, but in the mean time, we’re starting to hear footsteps behind us, not only can we hear them, they get louder by the day and the feet are wearing pinstripes!!!

Sox are coming out of the break like they did last year, SLOW. Even before Varitek got hurt the Sox were fading slowly. I hope it is like 2004, after the trading deadline they got hot. Mid August and I don’t want to wait that long. This team can’t come from behind and that is scaring me here. They’re down and they are done like dinner. Yankees showed last night what it is all about. Things like that go a long way as we all know.

We all knew this was coming so let’s not get to the ledge just yet. The Yankees had and still have a very easy schedule for another 3 weeks or so. That lead may go down to 1 or 2 by the end of it. After that they play Cleveland, Anaheim, Boston and 8 with Detroit in 2 series. Meanwhile in that span we play Baltimore (3), Tampa (6), Chicago (4) and Anaheim (4) and New York. By the end of August that lead may be back to 4 or 5 and with only a month left I will be content.

I hate to keep harping on the schedule when they can’t even beat KC, but the Yankees play the Tigers in those 8 while we get the DRays 15 more times. We also get Chicago 8 more while the Yanks play them just 3 times. I know this lead is shrinking and shrinking fast but look at it from a distance, 7 is still the largest in baseball and 58-36 is tied for the best record in the bigs. Calm down people

rayman: You would think that the management would tend to lean toward that way with Tavarez, but do you remember last season when he soooo absolutely criminally bad out of the pen??? You would have thoought that they would have done something then; THEY DIDN’T!!
So with Schilling on the DL what do you think they’ll do now>>?? I wish I knew…

Injuries are excuses, that Sox team after the break were very slow out of the gates. At the trading deadline they had the second best record in baseball and the front office sat on there hands. Varitek hurt his knee in early Aug and the rest is history. 5 game sweep by the Yankees and Ramirez mailed it in. I am sick of hearing of injuries, excuses to me. Time for others to step up. Papelbon was shut down in early Sept. last year and the Sox were done by then anyway.

Put it this way: at the begining of the season, if somebody told you the Red Sox would have a 7-game lead in the AL East on July 18th, would you be content or would you be borderline manic depressive because of it?

Keep things in perspective. All baseball teams are streaky. This is currently a bad streak.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Francona shake up the lineup a bit for tomorrow night’s game. Maybe put Coco back up top since he has gone on a triples tear the past week. That fastball he hit had homerun written all over it, he just put it on too much of a line and missed clearing the wall by about 6 inches. Oh well, that’s baseball.

And finally, I don’t remember seeing Youkilis strike out as many times in a whole month as he has in the past 5 games. He is definitely still hampered by that injury.

I’m not on the edge but I do not like where this is heading right now. I keep telling myself this could be like 2004. I will be a Red Sox fan and say 2004. Have the front office make the moves and take off after that. Jeff keeps on saying Sanders, I wouldn’t mind to see Sanders but Conine could be another one to fill in for our favorite J.D. Drew. I say Lowell or Crisp will be dealt, just a hunch here.

It is all in good fun, that is what it is all about. Rooting for the Sox is just great, in a weird way we knew it anyway. I just can’t believe they lost 2 out of 3 to K.C. They split the 6 games with them this year.

ell Brian I live around yankee fans.Makes it that much harder for me.And Sentinel you make a good point.Yanks have had struggles and we didnt quite capitalise.But as you said,things can turn around,it is baseball after all,anything can happen.

Sentinel, baseball is a long season defined by ups and downs. You don’t need to tell us that the Sox are struggling. They haven’t played well since late May. The fact they have a seven-game lead right now is amazing. The Sox don’t need to make major changes, but they need complimentary pieces. Lester should replace Tavarez in the rotation, and Tavarez should replace Pineiro in the bullpen. A fourth outfielder is needed to replace Pena and also fill in at times for Drew as soon as possible. I have no doubt that Theo Epstein is feverishly working to make a couple deals as I write this. This four-game series with the White Sox is very important. The Sox need to take three out of four to regain some momentum. THey can’t keep trading a win with a loss, and then another win with two more losses.

I agree the Sox should have put them away a few weeks ago. Ever since A-Rod hit that homer off of Papelbon I was always thinking to myself that was only 1 game but. Sox went out to the left coast and had there troubles. Sox have been a .500 team since basically Memorial Day. Trading deadline will say alot where these teams are going but I will say now and until proven otherwise the Tigers are the team to beat in baseball.

Brian, when you have as many key injuries as the Sox did last year, it is not an excuse when you attribute that to their poor second half. No team could have dealt with the injuries that Boston was confronted with last year. Injuries are part of the game, but it is rare when a team experiences as many injuries to important players like the Sox did last season.

That said, the 2007 SOx are much better than the 2006 Sox, but as we all know, a jolt is needed and a few tweaks need to happen sooner than later.

In late July the Sox had the second best record in baseball behind Detroit. Varitek got hurt on August 2nd or 3rd, we all know how important he is and then a couple of weeks later they got SMOKED by the Yankees. Theo and the front office on July 31 sat there and did nothing. Some people in baseball thought he was trying to do too much in so little time.

That team fell apart after that, the front office sent the wrong message. Yankees go out and get Abreu and the late Cory Lidle and they take off while the Sox were grounded. Ramirez QUIT on the team during that 5 game sweep and Papelbon went down in early September and the Sox were cooked. Remember Theo tried getting Lopez to catch, I guess Gedman was not available. Hinske was a nice move last August but that was about it.

Boston was healthy when the Yankees series started with the exception of Varitek. Sox pen was not ready for those Yankees bats. Timlin, Delcarmen, Hansen and Lopez were in over there heads and I blame the front office for sitting on there hands. Nixon got hurt on that Sun night game vs Angels but he was a non factor anyway as we all know. He hasn’t had a productive season since 2003.

I like what I have been seeing in Lugo lately.He seems a lot more confident and it looks like he is more calm.He seems to be seeing everything real well and hes making good contact and placing the ball very well.Especially with his speed too.Just think about it.

I want to see more of Lugo before I put him at the top of the order. I do agree with you about how he is playing though. Timlin looks like the Timlin of old. Lugo will be back at the top by season’s end for sure.

I hope so.We need a guy like Lugo hitting at the top of our line up.A guy who can get on base and is fast.I would feel safe with Pedroia or Youk in the number 2 hole.Anyone capable of igniting something.Maybe stick Lowell behind Manny?

I like that, Drew could be a good number 2 hitter. His name at the top of the order gets my blood boiling. I want to see Lugo at the top though, he is a very energetic player. Speed at the top, 40 steals at season’s end with a .250 avg. He would steal 55 or so if he hit .290

I just kind of wanted to get Drew a day off.I have lost a lot of faith in him.What if Pedroia gets on to have Drew hit into a DP?Then Youk comes up with no one on.I been feeling like I have a good feeling about sticking Hinske in the number 9 slot for tomorrow.I don’t know why.

I here you about Mrs. Drew…I have been saying for a little bit that he should do what Rudy Stein did for the Bad News Bears, lean into one. That is what Francona should tell him. That is some on base % guys there with Drew and Youk back to back before the duo of Ortiz and Ramirez. This team is lifeless right now.

Looks like I missed a nice discussion last night.
Well, since I wasn’t around, I’ll vent now.

Same old script played out again.

Tavarez can’t go 5

Offense can’t hit after the 6th.

JD Drew does absolutely nothing to contribute.

Does that about cover it?

Granted, Manny has been heating up in the 2nd half, but did anyone really expect him to do anything in the 9th?? I can’t remember the last time he got a late inning hit that meant something.

Tavarez’ next start is Monday against Cleveland. If Francona puts him on the mound, he is essentially wasting 8 innings from the bullpen that night. Because there is no way Tavarez gets out of the 2nd inning against Cleveland if he can’t make it 5 vs. the Royals.

He has been a releiver for the past decade!!! He hasn’t pitched this many innings in a long time! How many times is Francona going to give the same bull **** statement, “Well, he just has to make better pitches..he’ll be fine” Please do not make us watch another outing of his.

I think it was zach or brian that asked if I’d be happy if you told me the Sox had a 7 game lead on July 19th. I would have absolutely said yes….but with the way they are playing and the way the Yankees are playing, they will 4 back by the end of the first week in August. Ask me that same question on August 8th and I might have a different answer.

I picked a wrong time to fly to Boston. I’ll be lucky if they win one of the games we see this weekend.

Tavarez struggles have absolutely nothing to do with the baseball gods. I would assume most agree is his tank is on empty. He has hit a wall, kind of like rookies do at times. His pitches are up in the zone and he can’t get away with that. Tonight should be his last start, I agree with gosoxred about Tavarez pitching in Cleveland. That would be a short outing for sure.

I need to vent again on something that I keep hearing and reading. When talking about the lineup, Francona and other people keep saying “The numbers will all even out at the end of the year. People will be where they normally are average/RBI wise.”
Is that supposed to provide insight or comfort? There’s a big difference in someone padding their stats in games that are blowouts or have no meaning. The starting 9 are getting PAID VERY WELL to perform in clutch situations when it counts. It’s not going to give us any comfort in December to look back and say “Gee, I’m sure glad Manny had that push at the end of the year to make it to 30 Homeruns” or “Looking back, JD’s .275/10/85 year wasn’t that bad.”

That’s **** as far as I’m concerned. That excuse went out the window when we reached the All-Star Break. It’s not about reaching career average numbers at this point, it’s about getting it done when it counts.

Papi, Pedroia, Youk and Lowell are all over .300. Manny is just under. Pitching has been pretty good and the defense is improving. Sounds like a team that ought to be fighting for a playoff spot. Based on the numbers, I’d say the Sox are about where they should be. Maybe they’re even a little better off than they should be. We make baseball a game of numbers, but there’s so much more to it.

Pedroia has three hits in the two hole last night, and scores no runs. People want to say Manny is heating up, but when he came up in the bottom of the ninth, where was the clutch hit. Papi has a couple of hits, but does nothing when men are on base.

It’s the nature of the game. The team with the most talent very often doesn’t win. Just ask the Yankees of the past five years. They have so much talent, they are bound to go on a roll now and then and that’s what’s happening now. The Sox are a few clutch hits from five or six more wins.

I agree with gosox. This evening out the stats doesn’t necessarily equate to wins. Padding the stats in a 17-3 win equals one win. If stats were all that important, the Royals should not have even showed up. Show me what a player is batting with RISP, and how many of them he drives in.

We’re really having trouble with guys taking turns in slumps… Youks is batting .125 in his last 8 games and he was probably our MVP in the first half. Two guys get hot, two guys disappear… it seems like the timing is just bad. I do believe the bats will start to even out… but I’m not so confident in Wakefield and Tavarez. There is no evening out there… especially for Tavarez. Our bats can come around all they want, but we still aren’t going to win if our #4 and 5 starters give up 6-10 runs… Unless of course we are playing the White Sox… they proved they can score 14 runs and still lose by 2 field goals.

Has anyone out there looked up http://www.meetup.com and searched on Red Sox for your city? I was driving around here in Chicago one day and saw a sign on a bar saying something like… “Watch all Red Sox games here”. I didn’t catch the name of the place, but googled the name of the road + Chicago + Red Sox and stumbled upon the Chicago chapter of the Red Sox Meetup group. Now I’m part of the group and will be attending Meetup’s at the local bars that show Red Sox games. Who knew? Thank God for the Internet.

“GSM” batting with RISP in a stat. Over the course of a season and especially over the course of a career stats tell a very good story of how the player contributed. The OBP is there for the Red Sox, but yes they do not seem to come through when it matters most. But I believe they will eventually, I just hope that “eventually” is not too late.

And I am worried about the offense even with the high OBP. I would really like to know what it would take to get a Miguel Cabrera. Ellsbury, Hansen, and someone else? I do not want to give up Buccholz, he is untouchable in my opinion. But getting a bat like Cabrera who would be better than any Yankees hitter outside of AROD, would be a huge addition. Heck, he would be better than any of our hitters, currently. And with that monster! I am giddy just thinking about it. Of course we would have to shake up the infield, and may have to move Lowell to do it.

Tavarez definitely cannot start anymore games. It’s not that he has “become” a worse pitcher, but like everybody has said, he is not used to throwing this many innings over a whole season, let alone the first 94 games of one. The fact is he can still be an extremely effective relief pitcher who can get the ground ball when needed, but that’s over 1-2 innings, not 5-6.

If you look back to his past couple of starts, he has pitched very effectively over the first 2 innings and then sort of tapers off as the game progresses. If you translate those first 2 innings into a relief outing, that equals a successful appearance.

And I don’t think his “antics” are “bushleague” at all. Manny is a strange character and we accept and love him for that. It seems that Tavarez is similar in the respect that he lives in his own world, so I don’t think that’s really a fair assessment. It’s funny because when he was winning, everybody embraced his quirkiness (pointing to bases on double plays, rolling the ball to 1B, etc.) but now that he’s less effective it is a burden.

Dice-K goes tonight against a team who hasn’t seem him yet. That is a great sign for the Red Sox considering he usually dominates a team in his first outing against them (San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa Bay).

The Yankees play at 1:05 today so it’ll be nice to have their game over with when the Sox play tonight. I also pray that for some reason my ‘Extra Innings’ package doesn’t broadcast from the White Sox networks or else I will be forced to put my head through the television after 1.2 innings of hearing the White Sox announcers refer to us as “the bad guys”.

I agree about Tavarez, Zachary. He does have value to this team…..as a reliever and a spot starter. He has given the Sox more than expected as the No. 5 starter, pitching relatively well until the last month. I think he will bolster the bullpen if he replaces Pineiro.

I’m getting ancy waiting for a trade for another outfielder. I have a feeling I will be waiting until the deadline, which stinks because Pena rarely makes contact with the ball and Drew has a balky hamstring and an inability to knock in runs and get a hit when it matters. So essentially we are playing without a right fielder, at least that spot in the batting lineup, because Drew is a decent defensive right fielder.

Just to let you know I haven’t received that email you sent me. I am having troubles with my email. Hopefully soon I will be able to get everything taken care of.

I do get ancy about the trading deadline, last year I was quite disappointed when the Sox sat on there hands and did nothing with that pen.

This year they MUST add a bat to this struggling offense. Sanders or Conine would be a nice little addittion but I am looking for something bigger on top of that. Cabrera would be nice but that is wishful thinking, not going to happen. Drew is a solid o.f. and does have a good arm but that is about it. No offense with him, his final numbers are going to .260 12 H.R. and 70 R.B.I., talking about underachieving. I have no confidence in him at all, I didn’t have any in Timlin either and he has proven me dead wrong but I doubt Drew can turn it around.

To get Cabrera? hahah it will cost you at least two blue chip prospects, Hansen has zero trade value right now.

I would imagine Bucholtz, ellsbury, and probably a hansen type.

You’re talking about the holy Larry Beinfest, that guy could make an amputee an ace. He is perhaps the most underrated GM in all of baseball and has two rings to Billy Beane’s zero with a smaller payroll. No way he lets the greatest Marlin to ever be brought up go for one good prospect and a piece of ****. You trade him and you build your team around the acquistions. The only advantage is that Cabrera is gone soon anyway because his contract is up, but if the Sox keep letting this thing slip away, none of that matters.

Harrelson and Jackson are the definition of annoying. Harrelson is the ultimate homer. He called Wade Boggs Mrs. Boggs because Boggs complained of the players moving in the White Sox infield some years ago. I believe it was Guillen and Scott Fletcher that were distracting Boggs and he spoke out about it.

The Sox have a good lineup, they just aren’t performing in the clutch. Papi has spoiled us rotten. We expect him to hit in every clutch situation. If a player gets four or five walkoff hits a year, that’s a ton. What Papi has done in the past is unheard of.

I think the most pressing need right now is a starting pitcher. I’m not convinced Schilling has it any more. Outside his game against Oakland, he has given up 108 hits in about 85 innings and his fastball has been in the upper 80’s most of the year. He really hasn’t learned to pitch with his diminishing skills. I wouldn’t want the Sox pennant chances resting on his right arm, and right now they are. He’s a gamer, and I have all the admiration in the world for him, but whether he will be able to shoulder the burden is a huge question. Beyond that, it will be at least two weeks before he makes a Major League start, and there’s no doubt they’ll baby his pitch count. Wakefield is a .500 pitcher and Gabbard makes a good fifth. What looks good statistically, is in reality pretty weak, especially if an effort like Beckett’s last is wasted like it was. The KC series showed the weakness at the bottom of the Sox rotation.

I was unfortunately at the Tavarez debacle in Detroit a few weeks ago. He was near perfect for 2-3 innings and then fell off a cliff and gave up 9 runs. Isn’t the same outing over and over again enough to see he’s not cut out to be a starter? Even the Royals pulled their newbie after 4 innings and he was pitching great a few days ago. This is really ridiculous.

That was a hard luck loss for the Yanks, gsm. I had the “privilage” of listening to Sterling and Waldman in the 3 run 7th then got home to see the last inning and a half. This is why some people need to calm down a bit. I know the Sox have been struggling but your never as good as you are when your hot or vice versa. And last night we may have seen rock bottom from the Sox and as perfect as the Yanks will be this year. DiceK should give an effective effort against that offense that has good names but is horribly ineffective. The only bad thing is that White Sox bullpen is full or no name guys.

Well, except for Jenks, who still isn’t throwing all that grea. They built around a bunch of power arms and none of them seem to be doing anything. Jenks actually has the lowest ERA among all of the bullpen arms at 3.89.

You’re right rizzo. It’s not time to panic yet. The Yanks have a lot of work to do to catch the Sox. That being said, I do think the Yankees have the talent to do it if their starting pitching holds up. They have gotten some great outings over the past week or so and their rotation is looking pretty good. We’ll have to see how the old arms of Mussina, Petite and Clemens hold up for the grind. Wang threw another good game today.

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